Under The Road, The River!

Director: Yasin Semiz
Turkey, 2019, 52 mins.
Turkish with English subtitles 

Kavaklidere*, Hosdere, Bentderesi, Cevizlidere, Incesu avenue... Ankara residents are not aware, but every day while walking on the streets and avenues of Ankara, they are actually passing over the underground streams.

When Ankara was declared as the capital of the young Republic in 1923, another element that would bring life to the city stood out in the early plans of this city, which had no seaside; streams. This city, which was rebuilt in the first half of the 20th century and hosted Atatürk’s revolutions, lost its streams as it grew. The streams continue to flow quietly under the streets of this capital, that is known as “grey city” today, but the majority of the inhabitants continue their daily life without realizing it. A group of activists who remember these lost streams and wonder what happened to them, continue to trace them. Do the streams found in old photographs, memories and maps still live underground?

“Under the road, the river!” documentary traces the lost streams of Ankara and sheds light on the struggle to bring these streams back to the daylight. * “dere” means “stream” in Turkish.